Costa Mesa Fire Department turns key on new ambulances

For the first time in its history, the Costa Mesa Fire Department has added new ambulances to its fleet.

Tuesday evening, in a mini-open house, city officials and other residents got to pore over the custom-made paramedic vehicles.

“There isn’t a stock fire truck or ambulance out there,” CMFD Capt. Brent Turner said.

He and his team spent a year working with Ohio-based Horton Emergency Vehicles to decide on the details of each ambulance, down to the last bolt, he said.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Turner flipped on a video monitor that lets the driver see into the medical compartment just in case he needs to check on his partner or the patient they’re transporting.

He pointed out features like an adult-sized seat that folds out to reveal a kids’ car seat and a safe for controlled medications that each paramedic will have a personal code to access.

Lastly, he grabbed a tablet. The ambulances are paperless, so medical information is punched into the small computer and then uploaded to a server, where hospitals access it.

Costa Mesa purchased six of the new vehicles at about $200,000 each, and they’re expected to last 15 to 20 years.

The ambulances are part of Costa Mesa’s sweeping Fire Department reorganization plan that’s intended to streamline services so the city can reduce the number of firefighters on duty during any given shift.

“That’s really what it is, just being more efficient with the personnel we have,” Fire Chief Dan Stefano said.

Previously, during a medical emergency call, a CMFD engine and contracted ambulance from a private company would arrive on scene, Turner explained.

If the call was serious enough, a CMFD paramedic would jump into the private ambulance to tend to the patient and head to the hospital with the engine close behind.

Now, a private ambulance, a CMFD ambulance and engine will all arrive on the scene of a serious medical call. A paramedic from the CMFD ambulance will ride to the hospital in the private ambulance with the CMFD ambulance following, freeing up the engine to respond to other emergencies.

Once Costa Mesa’s one-year contract with the private ambulance provider ends, the City Council could vote to have CMFD ambulances start transporting the patients instead, Stefano explained.